jordoncooper.com vs. warrenkinsella.com

Warren Kinsella posted about the Top 25 Political Blogs yesterday and mentioned what I said here. My comment was that I think his ranking is hurt by bloggers who are still linking to www.warrenkinsella.com/musings.htm which was his old web location instead of linking to www.warrenkinsella.com which is his new one (it took me a couple of months to change my link so I am not judging anyone). A quick look at Technorati shows 1,213 links (or as Technorati says, "blog reactions") to his www.warrenkinsella.com and another 530 links to www.warrenkinsella.com/musings.htm. Google's algorithm shows 2,010 links to his site from both blogs and other websites. (of course those numbers will be one behind as soon as I hit publish)

On the other hand, jordoncooper.com has 1414 total incoming links on Technorati and oddly enough I beat him with 2,050 links on Google.

What's the point of this? 1) It shows how flawed most web data analysis is because the number of readers or linkers does not equal influence. A better metric would be how far does ones ideas travel and who is reading one's blog instead of how many. Also my links come in from areas a long ways away from politics in Canada, mostly from church leaders and pastors with some sports blogs tossed in for good measure. Another way to look about it, when I write something brilliant, Mike Duffy doesn't hang on every word.

Of course links and clicks are often used out of context and even if they were, I liked what Warren wrote here.

Here’s one of Warren’s truisms, then: legitimacy is not found in numbers. Rightness does not equate with popularity. You can be entirely, utterly alone, as Jesus Christ was in the end – as the other prophets were, like Mohamed and Moses, at key moments in their lives – and still be irrevocably right.

So how does all of this relate to web stats? Because, for me, this blog stuff is worth doing because (a) it is truly DIY punk rock journalism, and (b) it is a literal extension of diary writing. Personally, it permits me to write in a way that newspapers and magazines – having quit or been fired from not a few – never permit me to write. It allows me to write as I am writing right now – and then, three inches later, link to a hardcore punk band I currently adore. I do it, too, because I am – when you distil me down to my base elements – a diarist. I am alleged to have been writing 1,000 words a day since I was eleven years old: it is as fully part of me as is breathing, or Slurpees.

This made me ask why I keep this site going. It isn't a money maker. Despite my bluster, there is no jordoncooper.com media empire coming. I find myself using Twitter more and more which doesn't have stats and I have no idea if anyone is reading my most random and random thoughts. Yet at the same time I enjoy writing complete thoughts in 160 character or less and find it even more fun reading political campaign coverage in 160 character or less.

I think the reason I keep this blog is it is a place that I can explore new ideas that I am thinking about and a borderline extrovert, it allows me to process and get feedback. The random links here and there get formed together later on and occasionally become and idea worth caring about.As I have written before the person who probably influenced my thinking and writing this blog is Thomas Homer-Dixon and his book, The Ingenuity Gap which is the idea that the problems and issues affecting us are far more complex than we often understand. I think my keeping this blog is my part of exploring and understanding the world around me (which does at times include sports).